Hi all,

I've been around TolkienGuide as a member for a mere seven months, as an avid Tolkien fan. My main interest is still His Middle-Earth work, especially the Lord of the Rings. You have piqued my interest in many of his non-ME works as well as introduced me to the exciting but dangerous path of Tolkien collecting.

At this point, I have stuck with mainly recent and easily available editions. Between mass-market paperbacks, hardcovers, and recent deluxe editions, I have at least eleven "iterations" of LOTR in single and multiple volumes. The most money I have paid thus far was about 165 USD for the 2024 Deluxe WM version.

I'm becoming more interested in collecting some older editions. I don't have much interest in the first editions at this point, mainly because they are expensive and harder to find. However, I would love to obtain copies of the 2nd (aka "Revised") edition both from George Allen & Unwin and Houghton Mifflin. It sounds like these both had sufficient numbers printed and were of good enough quality that I should be able to find them without going bankrupt. I would love to give each of them a (careful) read-through!!!

1) For the GA&U second/revised edition, it looks like printing started in 1966 and that it was printed (I'm thinking of the dark gray dust jacket seen here) until sometime in the early 1970s. When the subsequent GA&U edition was printed, with a different and darker DJ, was it still the 2nd/revised edition?

Regarding this edition, do we know how many copies were printed? Also, when were changes made (particularly to satisfy Tolkien's desires and have an "as Tolkien intended" text)? Lastly, how much can I expect to pay, and how long would I expect to wait for a reasonable price that matches the current market? I ran a search through ABE books yesterday, and a set seems to range from 165 USD (poorer quality, missing some DJs) to 350 USD (plus shipping). I don't really care about having an early impression. I would rather have one in great condition from the early 1970s if possible. If later editions do incorporate Tolkien-suggested changes, then those are actually more appealing to me.

This is the main edition I would like to obtain at this point. I don't care too much about dust jackets if the books are in good condition, but I expect poor or absent DJs will also correlate with poor quality boards and pages.

2) For the HMCO second edition, I read somewhere that printing started in 1965, but then see other places (e.g. the TolkienBooks.US website) that it started in 1967. Printing of these editions and cosmetically similar book club editions then continued through 1977. Were a similar number of copies of these printed when compared to the UK/GA&U editions? I do live in the USA, so I expect it will be easier for me to find a set of these. I do find the 1960s color and text interesting, but the UK editions look so much more classy to me.

I'm mainly just looking for information. If there are resources I am missing from the web, or TolkienGuide, or informative threads that I have missed, please steer me in the right direction. And if you do happen to have a copy available, feel free to message me.

TLDR: I'm looking into buying the 2nd editions of LOTR and especially the UK edition. I'd love more info and to learn from TG's collective experience and wisdom. Thanks!